When I was best man I arranged the bachelor party (transportation, where we were going, who was paying for what for the groom), make a decent speech that was longer than 30 seconds, arrange a gift from all the groomsman, and keep all the groomsman wrangled up and up to date on what was happening with rehersals and all that shit, and pretty much doing whatever the groom asked to keep the stress off of him.

I've always understood that the best man - along with giving the speech and such - should basically be the go-to guy for the groom and whatever the groom needs to make his wedding day as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

My friend invited me to be his best man at his wedding. But I do not know what I should do as the best man. Is there anything that should be noted? Do you have any suggestions?

I was a Best Man four years ago for my college friend. Pretty much my only responsibility was giving a speech at the wedding. The groom had three older brothers that organized the bachelor party. Nothing wild, just spent the day out on the water on a chartered boat fishing then did a pub crawl that night. I'm not one for public speaking, so I had two gin & tonics before I went up to speak at the reception to calm my nerves. It's best to make a speech with some jokes, maybe some back story as how the groom met the bride. I was lucky enough to actually be with my friend the moment he met his would-be bride, who's now expecting. Just make sure you wish them well and something to appease the crowd, particularly the bride and groom's families. And definitely recite your prepared speech at least a dozen times on your own beforehand. I've taken a few communication college courses and the one piece of advice I took away was that in public speaking, make eye contact with several people in the audience while speaking. Best of luck to you.

I was a Best Man four years for my college friend. Pretty much my only responsibility was giving a speech at the wedding. The groom had three older brothers that organized the bachelor party. Nothing wild, just spent the day out on the water on a chartered boat fishing then did a pub crawl that night. I'm not one for public speaking, so I had two gin & tonics before I went up to speak at the reception to calm my nerves. It's best to make a speech with some jokes, maybe some back story as how the groom met the bride. I was lucky enough to actually be with my friend the moment he met his would-be bride, who's now expecting. Just make sure you wish them well and something to appease the crowd, particularly the bride and groom's families. And definitely recite your prepared speech at least a dozen times on your own beforehand. I've taken a few communication college courses and the one piece of advice I took away was that in public speaking, make eye contact with several people in the audience while speaking. Best of luck to you.